Honey Lemon Madeleines

The last time I made Madeleines was ........... errrr...... gosh I couldn't even remember! I remembered it was Chocolate Madeleines though. Not sure if I still have that recipe hhmmm....

Anyways, since I was still in the midst of deciding which goodie/s to prepare for a nephew's birthday party this Saturday, I thought I'd give this recipe another try before making a decision. (Well now I've actually decided to make these Madeleines & Chocolate Mousse. What about Brownies eh?) I would love to make a few goodies for the party but time may not be on my side as I have 2 Brownie Platter requests.

Here's a little info on Madeleines (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours):

Madeleines are among the most recognizable pastries in the French repertoire because of their look - they are made in scallop-shaped molds from which they emerge ridged on one side, plump and full-bellied on the other and golden. That they are among the best known is thanks to Marcel Proust, who immortalized them in his novel "Remembrance of Things Past". Everyone seems to know the story of Proust's narrator dipping the cookie into his tea and having the first taste bring back a flood of childhood memories. With that short entry, Proust and the madeleine gained such celebrity that even people who've never tasted the cookie refer to it with confidence as a touchstone. Yet when you take away the literary allusions and all the romance, what you're left with is a tea cake that deserves to be famous for its deliciousness alone.

The madeleine is a beautiful, if somewhat plain, cookie made from the kind of batter you'd use for a sponge cake. What distinguishes it is its lightness; its texture - the tiny bubbled crumb is tres raffine; and its flavor, a delicate mix of lemon, vanilla & butter.


Just to set the record straight, while it's Proust who gets all the credit for making madeleines a household name, the honor realy belongs to King Stanislas Leszcynski of Poland, who, in the eighteenth century, tasted a tea cake made by a local woman in Commercy, France. He was so delighted with the cookie that he named it after the baker, Madeleine.

Honey Lemon Madeleines

2/3 cup plain flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tblsp honey (this is my own addition to the recipe)
6 tblsp unsalted butter (melted & cooled)


1. Sift flour, baking powder & salt. Set aside.

2. In a mixer bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist & fragrant. Add eggs to the bowl. Beat the eggs & sugar together on medium-high speed until pale, thick & light for 2-3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla & honey.

3. With a rubber spatula, very gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter.

4. Cover bowl and refrigerate between 3 to 12 hours or up to 2 days. This long chill period will help the batter form the hump that is characteristic of madeleines.

5. To bake, preheat oven to 170C (depending on your oven). Brush some butter into your madeleine mold. Depending on the type of mold you're using, dust the insides with flour & tap out the excess.

6. Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each one almost to the top. Don't worry about spreading the batter or if they are filled up too full, the oven's heat will take care of that. Bake for about 13-15 mins or until they are golden and tops spring back when touched.

7. Remove pan from the oven and release the madeleines by rapping the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Transfer to a rack to cool. Best eaten as soon as they are made or at least on the same day they were made.

Next up, I'd want to try them with bananas and in strawberry flavour.

Chocolate Crinkles

As mentioned last week, another chewy cookie recipe would be posted after Christmas. So here I am, with a recipe at hand.

I was browsing through my recipe book for a Christmas giveaway and almost couldn't decide on a dessert as a "Thank You" gift for a repeat customer. Again, I decided to pack some cookies (I gave away Fruits & Nuts Biscotti for Aidilfitri).

There were a few which I've shortlisted - Thumbprints, Vanilla Biscuits and Shortbread. In the end I decided to go with Chocolate Crinkles, simply because they are unique. Balls of dough are to be fully-coated into icing sugar just before they were baked. With cracked tops, the icing sugar are spread out and you'll get cookies that have a crunchy exterior and a moist centre.

Chocolate Crinkles


1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups sugar (I used 1 cup which worked just fine)
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup icing sugar

1. Using an electric mixer, combine oil and sugar.

2. Mix in the eggs and vanilla essence.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. Gradually add to the liquid mixture and mix until just combined.

4. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour or until firm (a must-do).

5. Preheat oven to 170C-180C and line baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

6. Shape the dough into balls (I used 2 teaspoons to shape the dough). Roll them in the icing sugar, coating them completely.

7. Place the balls on the lined baking sheets, spacing them apart (cookies will spread out).

8. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are puffed and cracked on top. The cookies should look undone and be soft in the centre. The internal heat will cook them while they cool down. This will keep them crisp on the outside and moist & chewy on the inside.

9. Leave cookies in baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them onto wire rack to cool completely.

Yields about 80 pieces (small / medium size).

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

After a week of delay, here's the Chewy Chocolate Cookies recipe.

A rather easy recipe for anyone to follow, this recipe does not use butter but vegetable oil instead. So what you get at the end of your bakes would be cookies with crunchy edges and chewy and cake-like texture in the centre.

For these cookies I did not use the usual chocolate chips but coarsely-chopped + button chocolates, as I anticipated that the chips would 'disappear' in the dough.

So here it is:

Chewy Chocolate Cookies


2 eggs
1 1/3 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence (slightly more would still be fine)
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup self-raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts (any of your favourite)
3/4 cup raisins (I prefer to put slightly more)
1 cup coarsely chopped chocolates (semisweet / white)

1. Beat eggs, sugar and essence with electric mixer until mixture becomes lighter in colour.

2. Stir in sifted dry ingredients until well-mixed.

3. Pour in the vegetable oil & continue to mix (by this time mixture will look sticky and soft). Cover the mixing bowl & refrigerate for at least 1 hr or more.

4. Preheat oven to 170C (depends on your oven). Grease oven trays.

5. Roll heaped tablespoons of mixture into balls, place on trays 6cm apart, flatten into rounds. (Don't worry if you flatten it through as the dough will puff up during baking).

6. Bake about 10 mins or until browned lightly (mine took 10mins per tray). Stand cookies on trays 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Yields about 36 cookies.
Tip: You may like to add some orange rind for that extra aroma & taste.

Pinwheel Biscuits

As I've stocked up in my pantry last weekend, I became so excited to start baking something.... anything.... that I asked out loud to my family. They got so adventurous that they start looking into my recipe books & suggesting all sorts of ideas. I stopped them before it got out of hand & told them to give me a break & let me bake something simple - biscuits, cookies.

So all three of them (dear hubby, daughter & son) concluded on Pinwheel Biscuits, which uses hazelnut filling (aka Nutella). When the biscuits were baked, I realized that I've scrooged on the filling. Therefore it didn't come out as I'd expected.

Anyways as I've mentioned in my Tweet, it's a little on the buttery shortbread type of biscuit. The dough needs to be refrigerated before spreading the filling.

Pinwheel Biscuits

1 1/4 cups plain flour

100g butter, chopped (I used salted)

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tblsp fresh milk (approximately)

1/3 cup chocolate hazelnut spread (aka Nutella)

2 tblsp hazelnut meal

1. Process flour, butter & sugar until crumbly. Add egg yolk, process with enough milk until mixture forms a ball. Knead dough on floured surface until smooth. Cover, refrigerate 1 hour.

2. Roll dough between sheets of baking paper to form 20cm x 30cm rectangle; remove top sheet of paper. Spread dough evenly with hazelnut spread; sprinkle with hazelnut meal. Using paper as a guide, roll dough tightly from long side to enclose filling (pull the paper away from you, slowly). Enclose roll in plastic wrap; refrigerate 30mins.

3. Preheat oven to 160C. Grease oven trays, lined with baking paper.

4. Remove plastic wrap; cut roll into 1cm slices, place slices on trays 2cm apart. Bake about 20mins. Stand pinwheels on trays 5mins before transferring to wire rack to cool.

Makes about 30.

Pinwheel Biscuits

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

I tried my hands on biscotti about 2 weeks ago (I think! This is the result of outdated posts, I can't recall when exactly). Although this biscuit do not get a second glance from me in any cafes, my tasting experience last Hari Raya changed my mind.

Nothing against the (hard) texture of biscotti, it is meant to be dipped into your cuppa. But the ones I tasted last year, which was bought and given a packet to me by SIL, were of the 'right' crispy texture. And they were delicious! Then I thought I should try baking biscotti myself.

It didn't happen until January 2010. I started looking for the recipes and found one I could experiment with. The whole process took about 2hrs. Afterwhich they were kept in airtight container & stored (not for long since I have 2 little monster boys).

I have mixed feelings (or should I say, "taste") about the end result of the biscotti. I'm not sure that it was the 'right' texture. Hhmmmm.... Anyways, I am always on the prowl for different recipes to experiment with.

Here's one that you can try & if you do, please feedback.

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

Makes 16-20 pieces

2/3 cup caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup flaked almonds

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 177C and place oven rack in centre of oven.

2. Beat sugar & eggs on high speed until thick, pale & fluffy *When you slowly raise the beaters, the batter will fall back into bowl in slow ribbons.

3. In a separate bowl, whick flour, baking powder & salt. Add to the egg mixture & beat until combined.

4. Fold in the flaked almonds & cranberries.

5. Transfer dough to parchment paper lined on baking tray. Form into a log (like french loaf) about 30cm long & 9cm wide. You may have to dampen your hands to form the log as the dough is quite sticky.

6. Bake for 25 minutes or until firm, Remove from heat & let cool on wire rack about 10 minutes.

7. Reduce oven temperature to 165C. Transfer log onto cutting board & cut into 2cm slices, at a diagonal. Place the biscotti cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, then slices over & bake for another 10 minutes (or until golden brown for both sides).

8. Remove from oven and let cool. Once cooled, store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Almond Crunchies

Happy New Year everyone! Found some time yesterday to bake a newly discovered recipe from Jo's Deli. Easy recipe and the taste.... Super Yummy!

Chocolate Almond Crunchies

50g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks

40g whole almonds, toasted & chopped into small chunks

110g butter

80g brown sugar

1/2 tsp golden syrup

110g cake flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

120g rolled oats

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 170C. Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper.
2. Melt butter, sugar & golden syrup in a bowl, over a saucepan filled with water.
3. Sift flour, baking powder & salt into mixing bowl. Add oats & half of chocolates & almond chunks. Blend everything well.
4. Pour melted butter mixture into mixing bowl. Use a wooden spoon, stir & mix everything together. Add few drops of water if mixture seems dry.
5. Form dough into ball & press gently to flatten it. Scatter remaining chocolates & almond chunks on top of biscuits, press a little.
6. Bake crunchies, middle shelf for 15-20 mins.
7. When cooked leave crunchies to cool on the baking tray for 10 mins before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Fruitee Cookies

Have been 'dying' to try this recipe out. But due to the constant rain, I'm unable to get out & buy dried mix fruit for this cookie recipe. Finally, made the decision to head down to my fave store to get my supplies with dearest daughter in tow despite the heavy rain (anyways I need the baking supplies for Hari Raya Aidiladha. Can't get them tomorrow cos I'll be working till late).

So this recipe requires me to store the dough in the fridge for at least 6 hrs or overnight. This is convenient as you can prepare it in advance & put them in the oven just before you need it for any occasion. After mixing, the dough is very, very soft & it is almost impossible for you bake them immediately before storing in the fridge first.

The (pre-bake) dough in clingwrap

1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup mixed fruit

Method:
1) Sift flour, baking powder & salt and set aside.
2) beat butter & sugar until light & creamy. Add egg & beat again.
3) Stir in flour mixture, coconut & mixed fruit. Mix until dough forms.
4) Divide the dough into portion as you like. Shape into rolls & wrap them in clingwrap (pic above). Refrigerate for at least 6 hrs or overnight.
5) Slice the dough & bake at 175C for 10-12mins or until pale golden.

Fruitee Cookies

The texture of the cookies is crunchy & almost similar as butter cookies, with the addition of dessicated coconut & mixed fruits, of course. You may want to add some nuts too if you like. Overall, they taste great! My mum will definitely love these.

Butter Cookies

Made these with and for my daughter, who has been feeling bored in her daily routine of watching TV, playing, reading, colouring, drawing, colouring etc.... Had some time to spare and these cookies doesn't require much ingredients, so tried out this really simple recipe. She pressed the cookie dough, while I think of the colours and designs to 'paint'.

After baking the cookies, gotta think of some really colourful ideas to 'paint' them, and tadaa! If you look carefully, I've actually forgotten to put on a smile onto one of the bears. But as long as she's happy with her work, I'm grateful for the time we had making and baking these together.

250g butter
250g castor sugar
1 egg
500g self-raising flour
A pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
1) Cream butter & sugar until light & fluffy.
2) Add egg, salt & vanilla essence. Mix well.
3) Sift flour into creamed mixture.
4) Once done leave the dough in the fridge for about 10 minutes before rolling it.
5) Roll out dough & use your cutters to cut out the cookies.
6) bake at 180C for about 10-15mins or until golden brown.

Coloured icing:
Mix together 1 1/2 cups sifted icing sugar & 2 tblsps water until smooth. Add drops of food colouring & continue mixing until combined. Use as required on top of baked cookies.